Improvement in fire-alarm telegraphs



asheets-sheetl.l J; H. GUEST.

FIRE-ALARMTELEGRAPH.

N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITMOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. D c.'

f SSheets-SheetZ. J'. H. GUEST. FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH.

No.174,Z33-. Patent-mmh. 29,1876.

I l I l N. PETERS, PHDTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHWGTON. D, C,

3 'Sheets-Sheet 3.

, J'. H. GUEST.

. FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH. No. 174,233. v 'Patented Fen.zsa,1.s7e

N.PETEis. PHDTQ-LITHOGRAPHEH. WASHINGTON D C,

U'NITED A STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

JOHN H. GUEST, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

-IMPRovEMENT IN FIRE-ALARM TELEeRAPHs.'

f Specification forming part of l Letters Patent No. 174,233, dated February 29, 1876 application iled october 7, 1875. y

To all whom it may concern; Be itvknown that I, JOHN HENRY GUEST, of the city of Brooklyn, Kings county, State A of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in District and Fire Alarm Telegraphs, of which the following is a specification The 'object of this inventionis to furnish a good system, with cheap and reliable instrul In a, patent granted to me, No. 144,535, i Y bearing date November 11, 1873, I show a plan by which a local alarm can be given, in connectionwith which is an annunciator, to indicate the diierent rooms or oors, and at the same time'an alarm can be communicated to `acentral station through the normally-closed circuit of a district telegraph; but, in giving the local alarm, clock-work is used to ring the bell, which, after operating, must be wound n p, ringing for a short period of time only.` In this case I employ what is commonly known as a continuous ringing or vibrating bell, which, when once started b`y closing the shunt circuit, continues to ring so long as the battery holds out, or until it is switched out of circuit.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 represents a view of lmy automatic annunciator, taking a view of it from the tcp;-Fig. 2, a front view of the same, with the front support-plate B broken away to give a view of the machinery. The break-wheels D D and stop-wheel D are also broken away to give a view of the spiralV spring K which revolves theshaft and series of circuit-breakin g wheels D D, when, by the attraction of the magnet G, the armature F releases the stop-wheel D and allows the machine to act. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same, exposing the Fig. I ,as it would appear if the' annunciator were operated.

'I will now explain the operation, reference being had to the letters indicating the differentV parts.

a is a shaft supported by uprights 'B B which are held together by rods c c, the shaft running through and carrying the wheels D D and D'. Each point to be indicated requires a wheel orsuitable piece of metal fixed to the shaft; but, for illustration here, I deem two wheels with what I term a stop-wheel sufticien t. H, H, H', and H are springs xed' to the insulated support I, the springs H H resting upon the periphery of the circuit-breaking lwheels D D. The spring H is located over, y

but insulated from, the spring H and is' kept, ordinarily, from contact withvit by an insulated pin, Tprojecting from the wheel D.

. It will be observed that the break-wheels D D are so cut that onlya part of each one connects with, and holds contact with, its appropriate spring, and will so hold contact the proper length of time, until', by revolving, the circuit is broken therethrough, andy when the right number or name will'appear`at the opening of the front plate P. L L L are pins or stops, and are put at proper distances on the wheel D to come against the arm E and stop the rotation ot the disk whenever the circuit, through the magnet, is broken, and the appropriate number displayed. t is another stop-pin, and is caught by thetnpright R, permitting the wheels to revolve only to the last indication on the dial Q. Tis an insulated pin for the purpose of breaking contact between the springs H. and H when the instrument is wound up. E is an extension from the upright holding the armature y; M is a thumb-piece, and is for convenience in winding up the instrument.

It will be seen that this instrument requires but one magnet, and is so constructed that ratehetwheels and escapements are dispensed with, and the springs and wheels make it adaptable where it is required to annunciate different apartments, by a permanent closing ofthe circuit at the manipulating point; also,

it will be seen that this instrument is construct-ed in a simple but reliable way to give a continuous alarm, even after the circuit has again been broken. I do not claim this feature as new, only so far as it relatesto my system of alarm.

tions are required, say more than ten or twelve, a number ot' these instru ments can be joined together, thereby indicating many apartments,

as is partially illustrated in Fig. 4.

current to pass from the left-hand cell of' x' through the magnet G, thence to the frame ot' the instrument, thence to the break-wheel, to spring 2', and so on to the other pole of the battery, as indicated by the single-tailed arrows. This causes the magnet G to attract the armature y, releasing the stopwheel D', and by reason of the .tension-spring K the wheels revolve until contact is broken between the wheel and spring5 the armature then falls back, causing E to catch the proper pin L, and indicates the division at Q on the dial, the effect of which releases the spring H' making contact between it and H", thereby shunting the circuit and causing the current -to pass through the bell-magnet, as shown by the double-tailed arrows, giving a continuous alarm, even should the circuit again be broken at l and 2', and so on with all the breakwheels.

Fig. 5 is a front view of a vibrating-bell magnet, A1, and signaling-box A* with its metallic cover on'5 through the opening projects a hook-wire, b", which is fastened to the lever 0X, as shown in Fig. 6. When the instrument is wound up, and the hook-wire is pushed in, the lever oX is held fast by the pressure of the dx, thereby holding in check the signaling instrument. The rod e, insulated on its end passing behind the hook-wire b", and the other end connected to the bellhammer stairI f, must, as will be seen, cause the signaling-box to operate upon the first action ot: bell-magnet by the withdrawal of the hook-wire bx, thus transmitting a signal to the central station.

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the signalingbox, showing the lever oX as held in place by the pin d", the hook-wire bX is also shown in combination with the rod e. gx and g are springs, one of them, g, bearing upon the periphery of its signaling-wheel 5 the other one, v

g", is for the purpose of transmitting by a ground passage, and is not in connection with l its signaling-wheel unless deemed necessary, when it is then connected to ground, as illustrated in Fig. l0. Spring g and the Wire l, connected to the frame of the instrument, connect the instrument in the main line, as is shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 7 is a View of the signaling-box mechanism, as seen between plates x w. Fig. 8 is an edge view of signaling-box. Fig. 9 is a view of my thermostat, composed of a bulb, kx, lled with mercury.

nected to the bulb kX by the solid connection 1'.

.w .Q6 is 'a wire inserted atp, and con tinuing through the mercury-chamber lx, thence through r, and enters the bulb kx.

This plan of fixing a wire into a mercurial bulb I deem of much importance, inasmuch as air cannot enter the bulb kX through the unequal expansion between the'glass and wire k fr, because of the wire a; x being at all times immersed in the mercury-chamber. mis the degree-wire passing down the tube n, and is fixed to any point of temperature desirable.

Fig. l0 is a plan of circuiting, and will illustrate to those skilled in the art how I operate my system. The same circuiting and instruments, in connection with springs, &c., at doors and windows can be used for burglaralarms, or other purposes.

B' is the main-line battery. B" is a second battery, one pole of which connects to the center or thereabout of the mainline battery B', and the other pole to the ground. :v is the main-line and unbroken circuit, the batteries and receivinginstrument S being located at a central station. Signaling instruments I', forsignaling -messenger,7 police,7 or iire, and 'manipulated by hand, can be put at intervals in the line. Ax repre- .sents my signaling instrument connected \in the main-line or normally-closed circuit; 'A'. represents an. automatic annunciator; A1, vibrating bell 5 k", theromostat 5 o', resistanceccil, which, by connecting into the main line as represented by dotted lines, enables me to operate my system independent of groundcurrents, and through the normally-closed circuit ot' a district telegraph, with but one main battery B'.

Now, if the thermostat be closed at 15, the

current will leave the battery at 7, pass through box I', thence through the thermostat to the annunciator, through the spring D, through the drop H, thence to ground and to battery at G', as indicated by single-tailed arrows. The circuit being broken at D and H by the attraction of the magnet, and the lever H closing the circuit again, between springs H' and H", the current becomes shunted and passes through the bell-,magnet A1, thereby releasing and setting in motion the box-instrument A", transmitting a signal to the central office, and giving. a continuous alarm, the passage of the current being as indicated by double-tailed arrows.

These operations may be performed in Vanother manner without the use of grounding.

In this method, suppose a resistance, o', to be placed in the circuit, the part o o to o o being cutout, and the circuit in the dotted lines through o' substituted therefor. o' is of greater resistance than either the bell or annunciator magnet. A branch, 2 2, is led from lx isa small cham-f .ber partially filled .with mercury, and con- V in,

this line to the branch which, in the other plan, led to earth G. Normally there is no circuit through this branch, because, through the annunciator, it is broken at the thermostat, and through the alarm at lil H. Now, if the `thermostat closes'circuit, a larger portion 'of the current, or portion suflcient for the Work, will, on account of resistance 0', take the path 2 2, H, D, A', thermostat, line, causing the annunciator to be operated, which causes this circuit to break at D H and close circuit H' H, throwing it through the bell-magnet.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.' The combination, with a single electromagnet, of a rotating disk carrying numbers or names indicative of points to be guarded or signaled from, a series of circuitwheels, one for each point, having contact-points, surfaces of varying lengths, and a detent controlled by the magnet, and releasing and stop ping the numbered disk a-t suitable times, substantially as and for the purposes set, forth.

2. The combination, in an electrical annunciator, of one magnet, the circuitbreaking Wheels D D, stop-WheelD, springs H H- and H'H, circuits connecting the same, and an alarm-bell, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a normallyclosed circuit, of `a normally-operated signalling-box, a resistancecoil in the main line, and a shunt branch or, branches containing an automatic annu'nciator, vibrating-bell magnet, and a thermostat or thermostats controlling the shunt-branch circuit, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

4. The thermostat having the bulb k", chamber lx, and connection 1', forth.

5.- Combination with the main line, its battery, .instruments of an additional battery, and an earth-connection at the point to be as set forth.

guarded, with two branch-circuits between the earth and line, one containing a thermostat or thermostats controlling the branch through a local annunciator, which, upon the completion of its Work, breaks the branch through the thermostat, and completes the one through the local alarm, which in turn releases the signal mechanism Yfor sending in an alarm over the main line to the central station, substantially JOHN HENRY GUEST.

l Witnesses:

GEORGE T. HARTSHORN, CHARLES J. MATHIs.

substantially as set 

